


Second Place

by saintsfan165



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Annabeth is so in love with Percy, Annabeth struggles with her feelings and rejection, F/M, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Percy Being an Idiot, Percy is just as in love with Annabeth but they're both idiots, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22108591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintsfan165/pseuds/saintsfan165
Summary: Annabeth has trouble figuring out the best way to tell her best friend Percy that she's in love with him. But telling him the week he's about to compete against her school in their rivalry swim meet might not be the best idea.Gods help her.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 13
Kudos: 208





	Second Place

Annabeth always considered her life blessed when it came to school and life. She was smart, beautiful, according to a surprising amount of people, not quite the most popular girl, but well known, loved, and slightly feared. And it helped that she was without a doubt, the top of her class. She loved life at Mission High, but there was one thing that was missing. Her best friend Percy Jackson.

Percy unfortunately went to Goode, but thankfully the school was only a few blocks away. But Goode also happened to be Mission's biggest rival. And for some weird reason, swimming was the sport they always tried to one up each other. It probably had to do with the fact that both schools always had students competing for state titles. So yes Annabeth would cheer for her team, for her school, but secretly, she always rooted for Percy (she did so loud and proud whenever Goode wasn't facing Mission). Her best friend and semi sorta not fully blown crush. Okay, maybe a bit more than a crush. Fine… maybe a lot more than your run of the mill crush. Quite possibly more of the love you type crushes.

So sue her, she was sort of (most definitely) in love with her best friend… but it was his fault. Him and that stupid seaweed brain of his. You see Percy… well he had the most beautiful sea green eyes, and his smile just about stole anyone's heart. His laugh, as goofy as it was, was contagious. And he always knew exactly how she was feeling and how to help. He was always caring and supportive of her. He was always there for her, typically with pizza and a movie. He knew the right spot to rub when she was stressed, to scratch when she was tired, to kiss when she was sad (okay maybe not her preferred spot, but on her cheek or forehead or shoulder or knuckles were totally fine too. Right?). But most importantly, Percy got her. Out of everyone else in her life, in the entire world, only Percy Jackson knew who Annabeth Chase was. So it really wasn't her fault she fell for him.

It's just that there was no way he could ever feel the same way. She knew just how well liked Percy was. Despite being at rival high schools, people liked Percy, until it came to swim meets. Even if he made the game winning touchdown against her school, people there still liked him. But swim meets were a different story entirely. During those, Percy might as well be Little Finger or Jeoffry from Game of Thrones aka super hated. But when he wasn't swimming against Mission, Percy Jackson was a legend. Every girl fell madly in love with him, and all the guys respected him and wanted to be him (he was the total highschool romcom cliche package). But when girls like Drew Tanaka or Calypso, Cali as most people called her, liked Percy as well… well it was hard to stand out. Percy had even caught Rachel Elizabeth Dare's eyes, who had notoriously sworn off men. But she certainly didn't mind being around Percy, and they even dated for a while for most of their sophomore and about half of their junior year.

Drew, while most of the time acted like a bitch, was astonishingly beautiful. Calypso was gorgeous and her father was a titan of industry. And Rachel, well she was loaded but hated her father's business which made her approachable and she also happened to be super outgoing, an amazing artist, and had the second most beautiful eyes Annabeth had seen. Her and Percy's children would be blessed with beautiful green eyes. Super rich, super pretty, super outgoing; these were the girls that intrigued Percy, and she was none of those.

So if you factored everything, you could see Annabeth's dilemma. She was in love with her best friend who didn't love her back.

* * *

"So some girls were talking about you today in the locker room," Annabeth said nonchalantly as she successfully stole a handful of Percy's fries. Percy responded with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as he dunked a fry into her milkshake. "Gross. You know I hate that!" She exclaimed, playfully smacking his hand away from her side of the booth. They were currently hold up in their favorite cafe; Cafe Half Blood. The one place in New York that was entirely their own. They discovered it back when they were eleven. They were walking home from school doing their best to avoid one of Percy's bullies that was probably waiting for him. Their only option to avoid Sloan was to hide in the cafe. There they met the manager Chiron who took pity on them and gave them both a free milkshake. So for the past seven years it's been their place, and only them. Not Grover, not Thalia (despite working there), not even Rachel when her and Percy dated, or Luke when they went to prom together last year, were allowed to tag along. This was their thing.

"So who was it this time. Drew? I swear to the gods she is the most terrifying female I've ever met… and that includes your mom, I mean her eyes are like a predators. Like I'm the hurt gazelle and she's about to feast." Percy teased, dipping another fry, this time into his own shake. Blueberry. As he scarfed down the fry he responded to his own comment, "actually I take that back. Your mom is definitely the most terrifying person on the planet… period. Her eyes are more of the "if I could shoot lasers out of my eyes, you'd be my first target" type." Annabeth couldn't help but laugh, letting out a small snort even. She hated when Percy got her to snort, she remembered how he teased her for weeks when he first found out that if she laughs to hard she'll snort. But it was just one of those things that Percy could just get away with, especially when every time she did, he had that stupid lopsided grin on his face.

"I don't remember really. You're just so popular with the ladies of Mission," she teased causing Percy to blush ever so slightly. "But as you know the swim meet is next week so "no matter how smoking hot Jackson is" you're officially enemy number one," she teased, unsuccessfully attempting to steal another one of his fries. She pouted, giving Percy the face that she made whenever he didn't let her get her way. It almost always worked. And when it came to fry stealing, it had never not worked.

Percy rolled his eyes," fine." He slid the plate in between the two of them and Annabeth grinned triumphantly, immediately grabbing a handful of fries. Sure she could get her own plate of fries, but Percy's fries always tasted better. "So I take it from now on we're mortal enemies," he casually stated.

Her eyes narrowed in on him. "Oh yes Mr. Jackson," her voice getting British and serious, giving him her best bond villain impression. "As a matter of fact, I'm here to take you out so you can't beat us." Annabeth playfully kicked him a couple of times in the shin and maybe threw a fry at him. "With you taken care of Mission will be triumphant once more. We shall smite Goode from existence and laugh on your grave!" She fake cackled as Percy played along.

"Traitor!" He mockingly exclaimed clutching his heart. "My best friend, someone I love, whose been a part of my life since we were children has betrayed me for her school." He dramatically looked away off into the distance, still clutching his heart while Annabeth hid her face in embarrassment as the other patrons looked on at Percy's performance. "I can never swim again." And with that, Percy died. But not before shuffling all the way around the booth so he could die on her left shoulder.

Annabeth gladly rested her head on top of his as they sat there in silence for a few minutes. She had to give Percy credit. Every time he was killed, mostly by Estelle but occasionally via Annabeth, he always sold it. But his death didn't last long as he slowly raised his left arm to grab a handful of fries and shove them into his mouth. "You don't seem very dead," she said, still resting her head on his.

"Yes I am. In fact I'm moving so slow that your mind doesn't even comprehend that I'm even moving. I'm still totally super dead," he explained as he reached for her strawberry shake at the speed of a sloth.

She slapped his hand just as it was about to grab her half drunk shake. "I don't think so. I don't need your germs. Who knows where that mouth of yours has been!"

Percy withdrew his head from her shoulder. "You wound me Ms. Chase," he teased. "And wouldn't you like to know," he whispered, causing her to blush slightly. But being the seaweed brain he was, he added a quick lick of her cheek.

"Gross! You're such a seaweed brain." She quickly grabbed a napkin and dipped it in her water. "It's going to take forever to rid me of your germs." She quickly wiped her cheek, to rid herself of his germs. Of course it was all an act, she loved when Percy showed her this type of affection, the playful, love you forever type of affection.

"It's true. My seaweed brain germs totally dumb you down. And I can't let that happen to my wise girl. I need you to be smart enough for the both of us." Annabeth ignored the flutter in her chest when he called her his wise girl. She wished for so long to be his something. His best friend, which she accomplished rather easily, his favorite person, which took longer than she expected but when she met Sally she understood. But even now she second guesses if she is, considering Estelle has been around the last three years, but top three… she'd take that. But for the past two years now (maybe even longer if she truly went back and thought about it) she wished she'd be his girl not just his wise girl. And it hurt her every time he told her about a girl he was crushing on. And every time those girls failed to realize what they were missing out on, she couldn't help but feel a little bit happy for herself.

She just needed a chance to present itself. She needed Percy to make the move because every time she tried, she froze up and failed. And there were plenty of chances.

Like now for instance. Percy was still extremely close to her, his arms wrapped around her ensuring she can't escape. It would be so simple, just a slight tilt of her head and their lips would line up perfectly. And yet nothing ever did happen. The moment would pass and they would separate returning to their typical Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl shenanigans.

Annabeth would be finally (maybe) about to do something. Literally anything would suffice at this point, but like always she chickened out and something would force them to part. This time it was Percy's phone. They both slowly drifted away as they glanced over at his phone. It was Sally. "I gotta take this," he apologized, sliding back across the booth to grab his phone from where it was lying on the table. Annabeth took this time to pull her own phone out for the first time since they arrived. It was always a rule for them; no phones while they were here. Just them.

She pulled up Instagram to see a precious picture Sally posted of Estelle asleep in Percy's arms from last night. She most definitely saved that to her ever growing collection of precious Percy and Estelle pics. The next one she saw that really caught her eye was from Piper. It was a lovely pic of her and Jason about to go see a movie, but she was wearing his Mission letterman jacket he'd earned through football. And Annabeth couldn't help but feel the tiny pang of jealousy. Sure she knew Jason was handsome, but to her, he didn't hold a candle to Percy… no one did. So she wasn't really jealous of Piper being with a handsome man, it was the jacket. Letterman jackets were a symbol of pride and accomplishment for the athletes of the school. Most guys at Mission and Goode would wear them to parties as a way to rep their school and skill. But another thing they meant was to put in a more technical term was property. She knew dozens of girls that had practically owned their boyfriend's letterman jackets. While similar to stealing their boyfriend's clothes, their letterman was something entirely different. It was a way to say that they were yours and you were theirs. You repped your boyfriend's jacket and everyone would know that your Percy Jackson's girlfriend. Or in this case Jason Grace's boyfriend, she just never pictured wearing anyone else's.

She remembered when he got his earlier at the beginning of senior year. He was so excited and called her to meet at Half Blood just so he could show it off to her. Percy was so excited about finally having it that he broke the no phone rule to post a pic of the two of them on Instagram and send about a dozen selfies on Snapchat to his various friends. And when they went back to his place to watch Estelle while Sally and Paul went out, she couldn't help but test it out herself. She still had the selfie saved deep in her phone. The grey and navy blue really matched her eyes and made her blonde curls stand out. If she had to admit it, she'd say she looked hot. But Percy could never know she wore it. It'd be so embarrassing, and she knew that he'd tease her relentlessly if he ever found out. So for now she daydreamed.

"Hey I gotta go," Percy pouted. Despite talking every day and seeing each other at least four days a week, it never felt long enough to them. "My mom needs me to pick up more peanut butter for the new blue peanut butter cookies she's testing."

Annabeth was never one to complain about Percy doing stuff for his mom, but still… it hurt that he had to leave. Despite spending two and a half hours just at the diner today, it just wasn't long enough for her. She needed Percy every day, needed him to hold her in his arms and tell her she's the greatest thing that's happened to him. "Oh.. okay. Tell Sally hi for me. And make sure you give Stella a ridiculous amount of belly kisses from me," she said with a smile. Just because her family life wasn't the best, didn't mean she didn't love the fact that Percy and his family were closer than most. She remembered how terrible Percy's depression had been when Gabe was around. Five years of his life he'd spent in a secret hell, being put down emotionally and being physically scared. She remembered how before Gabe was arrested Percy would claim to be sick for pool days, and that he couldn't go in the water. When in fact his body was scared and bruised. But that was six years ago, the scars while still there, are healed and practically unnoticeable.

"Sorry we have to cut it short today. But to make it up to you, why don't you come by tomorrow and try out those cookies," he said as he slung his backpack over his shoulders.

"You just want me to help you with your upcoming econ test," she assumed correctly.

Percy dropped down on both knees in front of her. "Okay that too but it's been like two weeks since you've come over and Estelle really misses you."

"Just Estelle?" Annabeth asked, turning away giving a feux yawn.

Percy pulled at her shirt to turn her attention back to him. "Well of course. I mean mom and Paul are so over you. And well me… we're mortal enemies now," he said with a smile. For as much as Annabeth's pout was Percy's kryptonite, his smile was hers ten fold because he wasn't even trying to do anything. It was just that powerful.

"Okay fine. I'll go. But not for you obviously. For the cookies and to see my little guppy," she lied. If Percy wanted her there, she'd be there.

"You're the best," he pulled her in and kissed her forehead before clumsily backing away towards the exit. "I love you!" He shouted kicking open the door and backing out.

She could still feel where his lips touched. "I love you too," she whispered.

A hand suddenly slapped the tab down on the table, snapping her out of her reverie. "You know he just left you with the check right? Are you sure you're in love with my Kelp Head of a cousin?"

"Unfortunately yes." Annabeth responded without looking up at Thalia.

Thalia collided with her and scooted Annabeth over so she could sit down beside her, taking her unfinished shake in the process. "Hey!" Annabeth initially protested, but knew it was no use.

"Percy, gods do I love my cousin, but sometimes… he's a total idiot. But being in love with him isn't unfortunate. I think it's great and a bit late if you ask me. Thought the two of you would've declared your love for each other years ago. Lost me some money," Thalia teased trying to cheer Annabeth up.

"Yeah well it'd be great if I wouldn't keep freaking out every time I think about telling him. It'd also be nice if he felt the same way," she sighed, covering her face.

Thalia shoulder checked her best friend. "For someone who is honor roll, 5.0 GPA, full rides to Columbia, NYU, MIT, UCLA and Cal, you're being very dumb."

She scoffed, slightly offended by Thalia's remark. But before she could counter by adding Northwestern, Harvard and Yale to the list Thalia continued. "I don't know how you don't see it, gods you'd have to be blind to not see it. I mean Rachel saw it, which is why she broke up with him."

"Rachel? What does she have to do-"

"Cus Percy is so in love with you that no one else could complete. The most beautiful person to have ever existed could walk into this diner and Percy wouldn't even bat an eye at her if you were with him. It's how it's always been." Thalia paused taking a large sip to polish off the remainder of Annabeth's shake. "I mean yeah when you split up and went to different high schools Percy started to blossom. I was there, I saw it. Girls were all over him and he liked it. But when you would come over or he'd bring you to a party, it was only you that mattered to him. Sure he had Rachel for a bit, but that was because you guys were going through that weird little fight about who was being a worse friend. But when you patched things up, Rachel saw it. She'd always be second to you."

This wasn't the first time Thalia had told her that she was as oblivious as Percy when it came to how they felt for each other. But this was the first time Thalia had ever said anything like this. She never told her why Percy and Rachel broke up, no one had, almost as if it was taboo. And now she knew while, although she refused to believe that it was because of her and Percy's friendship. "I… I didn't know all of that."

"Of course not," Thalia said nonchalantly. "Because you have just engraved into your brain that there is no possible way that Percy would love you back. On a scale of one to ten, how devastated was Percy when he and Rachel broke up? Think about it." With that Thalia stood up and took the unpaid bill with her.

And Annabeth did think about it. She thought about all night and the entire day until she was standing in front of the Jackson-Blofis apartment. Percy should've been way more upset when Rachel broke up with him. They dated for over a year and a half and out of nowhere she dumped him. He was hurt yes, but after a couple days was back to his regular self. But statistics told her he should've been in a fit of depression and loathing for at least two weeks.

There was so much going on in her brain that she didn't even notice Percy open the door and call her name. "Wise girl… knock knock anyone home?" He teased and Annabeth finally snapped out of it.

"Oh hey Percy. Sorry just thinking."

"About how you're gonna help me crush this Econ test!"

She rolled her eyes and smiled, "obviously."

He pulled her in for a hug, playing with her hair. "And you came at the most perfect time. Estelle is in a mood and seeing you is totally going to change everything."

Together they walked into the entryway as Percy helped her with her coat. "Ok. Wait right here out of sight. She's going to love this."

Percy walked back out to the living room of their apartment. "Oh Estelle… guess what?"

"You got juice?" The three year old shouted from just out of sight of Annabeth.

"Not exactly. But I got you something much much better." He glanced over to Annabeth and ushered her to appear. "Don't get too excited but I brought someone by to-"

"Bannabeth!" Estelle shouted as she launched herself off the couch and sprinted into Annabeth's arms who was kneeling down waiting for her.

"Oh my little guppy. I've missed you." She said trying to avoid Percy's loving gaze. She knew that if she met his eyes she wouldn't be able to stop herself from blushing.

Suddenly she was enraptured in the life of a three year old. Estelle was telling Annabeth all about how her favorite color was blue like Percy, she loved fruit punch, and she planned on being Ariel for Halloween next year. Annabeth for her part was the model listener, she gasped at the right times, got excited when Estelle was, and of course gave Percy death glares whenever Estelle mentioned Percy making her take naps which she definitely didn't want to do.

Percy decided the best course of action to prevent him from being teamed up on was to put on the Lego movie and bring Estelle all the fruit punch and freshly made blue peanut butter cookies. Hesitant as she was, Annabeth was happily surprised that they were delicious. She never should've doubted Sally's baking. "These are delicious. Sally has really outdone herself."

"I'll be sure to bring it up when she gets back. Another book signing somewhere in Brooklyn so she won't be back until late," he said with a twinkle in his eye. Percy loved his mom and whenever someone said anything great about her. She was the greatest thing in his life. "Which means that dinner is on me. Chinese sound good?"

"What about studying?" She said with a look of betrayal and suspicion.

"Well that too. But like…" his eyes drifted to the TV. "Lego movie. Stella wants us to watch it with her. Right?" His eyes staring down his little sister, begging her to say yes.

"Yes! Bannabeth sits by me!" She yelled with joy, slamming the seat next to her on the couch.

"Can't say no to that. Or did you suddenly become evil and heartless and not awesome?" he teased with a satisfied smirk as the infamous Lego Movie song started to play. And sure enough Annabeth found herself watching the Lego movie with Percy's arm wrapped around her as they both cuddled Estelle. An Estelle who barely made it halfway through the movie before falling asleep in Annabeth's lap.

"I see drooling in your sleep is a family trait," she teased as Percy lifted Estelle up and took her into her room.

"Told ya it would be fine." He said, returning from the bedroom. Percy sat down right next to her, pausing the movie knowing that Estelle would want to finish it when she woke. "But I was serious about Chinese. I'm starving."

"You ate like ten cookies since I got here," Annabeth responded, poking Percy's stomach in the process. That was a mistake, because she had completely forgotten the chiseled slab that was his six pack. Turning away quickly to hide her blush she reached for her bag and pulled out her Econ notes. "But yeah. I'll get us started on where to begin studying and you order."

Percy nodded, pulling out his phone and ordered way too much Chinese food for the two of them. "Estelle's going to want some when she wakes up and mom and Paul will be home eventually. I'm not that bad with money," was his defense.

She sighed, playfully rolling her eyes and called him a Seaweed Brain. It was just like old times. The two of them sitting on the floor in Percy's apartment, their homework spread across the coffee table and Taylor Swift playing in the background because Percy swore that her voice was that of the angels and helped calm his ADHD. But she never bought it. She knew Percy had a very deep crush on the music star but was too embarrassed to admit it, so she let it slide.

Twenty minutes into their studying food arrived and like clockwork, Estelle woke up from her nap so the three of them returned to the couch to finish watching the movie. And after the unhealthy amount of Chinese food and blue cookies the three of them slowly drifted off only to be woken by Paul coming home and Estelle shouting about it. Annabeth was a little embarrassed when she greeted Paul who had just witnessed her snuggling up to Percy and seeming really content to stay there. But Paul was never one to say something or give knowing looks, that was all his wife. Sally would have been all over her about how cute the two of them looked and how it reminded her of when they were young and would fall asleep on each other after a long day of Annabeth bossing Percy around. Days were simpler then. Those days Percy was just her best friend and occasionally her husband who was the stay at home dad while she ran her very important architecture firm. Nowadays, Percy was most certainly, the love of her life.

"It's late," she said, looking at her watch seeing that it was barely nine. "And I'm sure that I've overstayed my welcome. I don't want to be in the way while you just want to relax after work. I'm sure teaching highschoolers like Percy must take its toll."

Percy pouted, flicking her nose in retaliation. "I've gotten better."

Paul laughed, "Nonsense Annabeth you are more than welcome to stay. Sally would be quite disappointed if you didn't stick around for her to say hi. You know she's been working on blue peanut butter cookies, I'm sure she'd want you to take some home."

"Fine," she seceded. "But," she turned and pointed at Percy. "We are going to actually get some studying done. Your room… now."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yes Mom." And he collected his work and trudged into his room with a defeated face as Paul and Estelle started up Lego Batman. "They're watching Lego Batman. Not fair, that's like the best one! Stupid econ," he angrily mumbled.

"I'll tell you this Perseus, each question you get a question right, I'll give you a prize."

Percy perked up. "A prize you say? What sort of prize?"

"Shit," she whispered to herself. She had no idea what she could give as a prize. "Well ummm it's like a special, super secret prize."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Sure." He launched himself into his bed and crawled up to her. Laying on his chest, his body propped up by his elbows he gave her an unconvinced look.

Annabeth was sitting upright, her back resting against the wall. "It's true. Super cool and super secret," she lied. And then it hit her, make the questions super hard so Percy wouldn't get it right. But she couldn't do that to Percy. The whole point was to get him ready for the upcoming test and build his confidence. While she didn't want to give him the easy stuff, she still knew he needed the challenge of harder questions. So she decided to put the hard questions first and the easiest ones last. Give herself time to figure out what a suitable award would be.

"Alright let's begin then."

Fifteen questions in, Percy still hadn't gotten one and was getting more and more frustrated. "Ugh I'm such an idiot!" He slammed his pencil down on the notebook and face planted into the blankets. "I'm going to fail," he mumbled from bed sheets.

Annabeth slunk down beside him, setting the paperwork on his nightstand. "No you won't."

"You're lying. You're supposed to say things like that to me. It's in the best friend clause," he mumbled, face still pressing into the cushioning.

"I'm not lying. I do believe in you. And well about the tough questions… I've been giving you the really difficult questions because I lied. I don't have a secret prize for you and was too embarrassed to tell you. I thought that by giving you hard questions first and easy ones later I could give myself enough time to figure it out. But I couldn't."

Percy laughed and her turned to face her. They were both staring at each other, faces less than a foot apart. "I knew it. I knew there was a reason I was struggling, I'm not usually this bad. I mean 0 for 15 is a lot."

"Yeah I'm sorry. Truly."

"All is forgiven. But how about those easier questions."

"Of course but I don't have a prize."

Percy's eyes lit up as if he just thought of the greatest idea of all time. "A kiss."

"A what?" She said a little to loud.

Percy just smiled at her. "A kiss. I get a question right you pick where I get to kiss you. I think that's deserving for what you just put me through."

"Ummm… okay. Fine." This was a really bad idea, but if Percy Jackson wanted to play a game of chicken, she certainly wasn't going to back down. Plus her brain was titulating her with possibilities. The two of them pulled themselves up and sat lotus position on Percy's bed, Annabeth snatching the study guide back from where she set it.

She asked the first question, offering her hand as the spot he could kiss. Of course being an easy question, Percy got it right with no issues. And being the Seaweed Brain he was, started to make out with her hand. "Oh my gods that's disgusting." She yelled, wiping her wet hand on his pillow.

"Well we never specified exactly what type of kiss. So makeout was the obvious option. I mean your hands are just… wow," he teased, but Annabeth couldn't help but blush at the joke. She just loved whenever Percy complimented her, even if it was a joke about how "sexy" her hands were.

She asked the second one, offering her forehead as the spot he could kiss, he'd kissed her there a million times before. "And don't be gross!" Percy got it right, despite it being a little harder than the previous. He gently took her head and kissed her on the forehead. But unlike his quick exit which usually followed those forehead kisses, instead his sea green eyes glistened as he stared at her with a smile. Annabeth tried to push down the rising feeling that maybe he did feel the same way.

She asked the third question, slightly harder than the rest, and offered her cheek. Percy glanced down to her ass and she playfully smacked his head. "Not that cheek you perv! This one," she flicked his face.

Percy struggled, but in the end and with the tiniest bit of guidance from Annabeth got it right. Percy stared at her, caressing her cheek and leaned in slowly to place a long, sensual kiss on her cheek. His lips on her cheek set her face ablaze and all but confirmed that maybe, just maybe, Percy felt the same. They'd kissed on the cheek a few times before but it was usually Annabeth who instigated it, whether it be because Percy passed a test he didn't think he would and gave her all the credit, or when they graduated middle school, or one time when she had a little too much to drink at a party and he took care of her. But this time, this time it wasn't some spur of the moment, high emotion moment, it was planned… by both of them. And she wanted him to do it again.

She offered the opposite cheek up as tribute. Giving Percy the toughest remaining question she had. She knew Percy could do it, and after that last little cheek kiss, needed him to get it right.

It took about ten minutes for Percy to finally come up with the answer, and to her surprise he got it right. And she didn't even help him. "You did it Percy. I'm proud of you." Percy blushed and thanked his tutor, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down away from her to hide it. Annabeth decided she was going to kiss his cheek as a reward.

"Percy I'm home!" Sally shouted from the entryway and Estelle's footsteps echoed as they figured the young girl was running up to greet her mother. Lips still puckered, Annabeth leaned in to kiss his cheek when suddenly Percy turned back up to face her and their lips locked. It was only for a second or so, but the look of shock on Percy's face mortified her. He quickly pulled away from her, sputtering a multitude of apologies and that's when Annabeth realized it. Percy Jackson didn't love her back.

Emotionally destroyed and embarrassed she apologized and quickly packed up her things. She didn't even look at Percy and had barely acknowledged Sally when she greeted her. Even Estelle tried to grab her attention but that didn't work either. Before everyone knew what was going on, before Percy had a minute to contemplate what just happened, Annabeth was gone.

She avoided Percy like the plague, not responding to his texts and not meeting up at Half Blood on Friday like they were supposed to. Each day she woke up to a ridiculously long text where Percy would apologize for crossing their boundaries, that he was an idiot, that she's his best friend and he needed her. But Sunday she didn't get a text. Monday neither. School by now had completely transformed into school spirit, rocking the green and yellow she'd come to hate. Green always reminded her of Percy, and while yellow had once been her favorite color, she now would say blue or sea green. It always led back to Percy. She saw Matt Sloan in the hallways rocking his letterman jacket, telling all the cheerleaders to cheer extra hard for him on Wednesday.

As she passed by he saw her. "Hey Chase!" His arm shooting out to grab her, not aggressively otherwise Annabeth would've dropped his ass. "You'll be rooting for me and not that douche of a best friend Jackson right?" He cockily smiled.

"Of course Sloan, school spirit and all that shit," she mumbled, clutching her book to her chest, avoiding his gaze.

"Good!" And he let go of her arm. "See ya there Annie!" Annabeth sighed and just kept walking.

Within minutes, Piper ambushed her. She should've known. Piper was Percy's secret contact to keep him informed on what she was up to in Mission, much how Nico and Bianca were her way of knowing what shenanigans Percy got into. "Talk." Was all Piper said to her and as much as Annabeth wanted to just ignore her and not say anything, Piper just had this way to her, it made her really good at extracting information.

"I kissed Percy."

Piper's eyes went wide with shock, and then she gave a sad smile. "And then ran away?" Annabeth just nodded. "But… why? You've been wanting to kiss Percy forever and when you finally do, you just run away?!" Piper exasperated.

"Because I saw the look on his face. The look of "oh my gods what have I done?". I saw regret," she said in a low whisper.

"Then how come he has been trying to get you to talk to him since last Wednesday? How come he told me that he needs to talk to you? That if you truly cared about him you'd talk to him." With that Piper walked away, not wanting to hurt Annabeth's feelings any further, the poor girl truly believed that Percy regretted kissing her.

She was quiet the rest of the day and even during dinner. Monday night dinner with her family was usually the one time of the week when she could tell her father and stepmother of her accomplishments. But tonight she was uncharacteristically quiet. The second plates cleared she went back and locked herself in her room. Drowning her sorrows to the melancholic sound of Bon Iver.

Around 11pm her phone buzzed and tempted to see who had texted her, so she glanced. It was Percy.

_Seaweed Brain: I passed my econ test. Meet at CHB for kudos shakes? I'll be there tomorrow @5. I hope to see you there._

_Seaweed Brain: I miss you wise girl._

She didn't respond, but both her and Percy knew that she saw it. The benefits of having an iPhone.

Night came but sleep did not, having fallen asleep around 3am. School was boring and all day she dreaded 5pm. She dreaded what was going to happen, Percy lured her with the idea of his test score and milkshakes and as much as she dreaded seeing him, her hubris all but begged her to know just how well their study session went. Pride would always get in the way.

She walked through the streets letting the crisp end of winter air fill her lungs. Her cheeks a rosy red, as she adjusted her Yankee cap to keep her face free from the wind. She saw the orange and purple glow reflecting in one of the puddles. She was there.

Percy was sitting at their booth in his spot facing away from the door. She couldn't see his face but she could see just how nervous he was. His body language which was usually so flowy and free was tense and she could see his foot tapping rapidly. Normally that would account for his ADHD, but today she knew it was because of her.

She didn't know if Percy ended up seeing her. Thalia shouted her name from across the diner, but she bolted. It was just too much and underneath it all, she was a coward.

She cried herself to sleep that night, ignoring the ten voicemails and dozen texts from Percy. Why did she have to make it worse? She always made it worse. If she had just sat down at the diner and had a normal conversation with Percy, they'd be back to their wise girl and seaweed brain antics. By now though it was probably ruined. All the years of friendship gone because Annabeth didn't have the courage to face him head on, to have her heartbroken officially.

Part of her didn't even want to go to the stupid swim meet, but earlier when she woke up, she determined that today would be different. She texted Percy saying they would talk after his meet. She called Sally to apologise for storming out and making sure she was going to go to his meet and if she was bringing Estelle. Both yeses made her feel better, safer, still loved.

She owed her new outlook on a stupid dream. She dreamt that her and Percy were children of the Gods. The Gods of ancient Greece. It made no sense, but it felt so real. And in that dream Percy had been her best friend and they were fighting monsters inside a dormant volcano and he told her to run. So she put on her Yankee's cap and it turned her invisible (cus dream) and she ran. But not before she kissed him. But Percy being a Seaweed Brain went and got himself blown up. So for two weeks she believed he was dead and was not only heartbroken, but empty. Thankfully he returned to her just as she was giving him a eulogy, and that's when she woke. It was a strange dream, almost as if it were real. But that dream made her see what life would be like without Percy and that was a life she didn't want. So she could live with the eventual rejection so long as they were still best friends, that they were still together.

She ended up daydreaming during English, her least favorite subject, reading was always a bit difficult due to her dyslexia. This time she dreamed that her and Percy were once again demigods but he had forgotten who he was, but he remembered her. Of all people, he remembered her. And it made her realize that as long as their together, they'd be okay. Together.

* * *

She paced back and forth outside the gym eager to see Percy and nervous for him. She was definitely rooting for him, but didn't mean she didn't think he could lose. Sloan had been on a tear recently, breaking all the school records. And Percy's season had been relatively average, at least by Percy Jackson standards.

Suddenly she felt a hand gently grasp her shoulder. She spun around ready to either defend herself or chide Piper about sneaking up on her. Instead she was at a loss for words as she was face to face with Percy. He looked beautiful like always, but his eyes which usually conveyed so much joy and love seemed sad, and she knew why. He was wearing his letterman over his breakaway pants and jacket.

"Hey wise girl," he said softly, immediately pulling Annabeth into a hug.

When they finally pulled away after five minutes, they both stared at each other.

"I'm an idiot!"  
"I'm sorry!"

They both stared at each other with slight amusement. "You go first," Percy said, reaching down for her hands, eager to hear everything she had to say.

"I'm an idiot. I didn't mean to kiss you on the lips and I freaked. I didn't want it to change anything but instead of making sure that we were okay, I panicked and ran. I'm a coward."

Percy moved his hands from hers and gently cupped her face. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry because things did change. They changed a long time ago and I was too stubborn to accept it. I'm sorry that I feel so deeply in love with you that I pushed you away and dated Rachel. I'm sorry I didn't tell you immediately how I felt. I'm sorry that our first kiss was an accident. I'm sorry."

He started to pull away when Annabeth, overwhelmed with relief, terror, anxiety, and above all love, grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a kiss. A real kiss. The kind of kiss that left you speechless and made you feel safe. The kind of kiss she'd been wanting to have with Percy for years.

"Whoa…" was all Percy managed to say when she finally, reluctantly, pulled away from him.

"Whoa? Our first kiss and all you can say is whoa?" She teased. "You're lucky I love you back seaweed brain!"

Percy's eyes immediately changed from the sad, lost look to fireworks, and she found herself getting lost in them again. "You love me." He said matter of fact. "You… love me." He paused pulling her in for another kiss. "You love me!" He shouted, the words echoing through the empty halls.

"Okay no need to go screaming it through the halls of my school," she playfully punched his shoulder. "You're kind of the Antichrist right now," she pointed across the hall and saw an old picture of him his freshman year when he hadn't grown into his body. Drawn on him were devil horns, stink lines, buck teeth, and fake pimples. "I can't be seen kissing you!" She said with a smile.

"So I guess you don't want to wear this?" He asked taking off his letterman jacket and placing it on her shoulders. "You look good in navy and silver." He smiled kissing her on the forehead. "Alright I got to go warm up. I love you," he kissed her one last time on the lips. "You better root for me. I mean what type of girlfriend would you be."

With that he rushed back into the gym where she could hear the boo's of her fellow classmates. There was no doubt in her mind he was going to destroy Sloan and the rest of them.

With a smile on her face she properly put on his letterman jacket and confidently walked into the gym as Percy Jackson's girlfriend.


End file.
